Questions tagged [supernova]
Questions regarding stars which increase suddenly in energy output due to an explosion which ejected much of its mass.
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When Betelgeuse goes supernova, will the explosion hit any neighboring stars?
There is evidence Betelgeuse might go supernova "soon". Are there any stars in the vicinity of Betelgeuse that are close enough that they will be hit by the explosion of this supernova? What would be ...
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How scientists estimated the number of near-Earth supernovae over the last 11 million years?
According to this article on wikipedia,
An estimated 20 supernova explosions have happened within 300 pc of
the Earth over ...
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2answers
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Have we ever seen the formation of a blackhole?
So I know that the formation of a supernova has been observed and that we have taken images of blackholes, however, has the formation of a blackhole ever been observed. How do we observe it?
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How many galaxies have had their distance determined using SNIa?
Supernovae of type Ia can be used as standard candles to determine extra-galactic distances. But these event only occur (roughly) once every 200 years in any given galaxy and rapidly fade away. So to ...
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How often do supernovae occur?
Type Ia supernova are used as standard candles. But they also are transient events. This means that to determine the distance of a galaxy using supernovae, you have to wait for one to occur. How often ...
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Will the nebula of Betelgeuse be visible to the naked eye? How bright, how large, how soon, for how long?
When Betelgeuse goes core collapse supernova it will leave a supernova remnant. Will it become visible to the naked eye? If so, in what time frame will it be visible. Will it be star like from the ...
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1answer
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Are stars expected to become dimmer before a supernova?
With the recent news about the "fainting" of Betelgeuse and the speculation that this might be a precursor to a supernova, I'm wondering if there is any theoretical/observational basis for this ...
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What would the effects on or around Earth if Betelgeuse went supernova?
There's been a lot of news lately about Betelgeuse possibly exploding sooner than perhaps was expected. Some examples:
Guinan, Edward F.; Wasatonic, Richard J.; Calderwood, Thomas J. (8 December 2019)...
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What observation can be expected on LIGO if any when Betelgeuse goes supernova?
What observation can be expected from the LIGO† gravitational wave observatory if any when Betelgeuse goes supernova?
Could we know that Betelgeuse has gone supernova before we see it light up our ...
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Why does the Supernova 2006cm give a very different value for the Hubble constant? Why doesn't it increase error bars for the Hubble constant?
The Supernova 2006cm has a redshift of 0.0153 which translates into a recession speed of 4600 km/s.
It has a distance modulus of 34.71 which translates into a luminosity distance of 87 Mpc.
This ...
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Element Abundance Related To Star Explosions [closed]
Sorry if this question is too basic, but as I learned about how supernovae are means of producing heavy elements I began to wonder "What would happen if stars didn't explode, i.e. undergo supernova"? ...
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Proxima as Supernova [closed]
Follow this question. Let's say Proxima Centauri explodes as a Supernova (I know, it CANNOT explode as supernova, let's say it can. I know, it should had exploded more than 4 years ago, let's assume ...
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Why do we expect Type Ia Supernovae to be brighter in a decelerating Universe than what has been observed?
This seminal review paper in the PNAS by Robert P. Kirshner (https://www.pnas.org/content/96/8/4224) says the following:
If the universe had been decelerating—–in the way it would if it contained ...
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2answers
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What kind of star would allow for life like our Sun/Earth and then go nova?
In the Star Trek Prime Universe, Star Trek: The Original Series, the home stars of the Fabrini, Platoans and Sarpeidons went nova, while in Star Trek: The Next Generation one of the stars in the ...
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Is the resulting light from a supernova a product of photons bouncing around in the Sun?
I was thinking about how photons formed in the centre of the Sun take quite a long time to exit the surface. And it occurred to me that at the end of a star's life (during a supernova, given that it's ...
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What do the fusing 'onion layers' of a pre-supernova star look like to scale?
I'm sure we've all seen the diagrams of various layers of element fusion from hydrogen to silicon in a star that's just about to go supernova.
(Picture from courses.lumenlearning.com)
I suspect ...
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Why does matter stay collapsed in the core, following a supernova explosion?
Following a supernova explosion a star may turn into a white dwarf, neutron star, black hole, or just a stellar dust & gas leftover.
Excluding the latter case, why and how does the star's core ...
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Estimating the abundance of type-Ia supernovae using magnitude limited survey
I would like to estimate the fraction of type-Ia supernovae in a magnitude limited survey (only including those supernovae that are brighter than a certain than a given fixed apparent magnitude).
I ...
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Assuming no light pollution, was “2C. 1406” ever visible to the naked eye?
Joseph Needham, in his Science and Civilisation in China Vol. III, claimed that there was an ancient record of a nova about three thousand years ago. As a result of private correspondences with a "Dr ...
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Can an Earth-like planet survive if our Sun went Supernova?
First, I would like to point out, yes, our sun does not have enough mass to be a candidate for Supernova, this is a scenario were our sun is though, and after the various life cycle stages of the sun ...
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Is there a standardized “Astronomical Alert” system?
“Who saw” the binary neutron star merger first? What was the sequence of events? (GRB/GW170817) highlights a particularly notable astronomical alert, but I am sure that there are alerts triggered by ...
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How are constraints on dark energy improved the most?
Today we have various data available from independent probes to constrain dark energy, i.e. its equation of state $w$. These include Type 1a supernovae, BAO, CMB, large-scale galaxy surveys, etc. Are ...
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Can a black hole “supernova”?
In layman terms:
nothing ever escapes the pull of a black hole, not even light
when a super massive star reaches the end of it's life you get a supernova
sometimes the "remains" of these stars can ...
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1answer
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Astrophysics of Supernovae - Energy over Distance?
I need this for worldbuilding, but it is a physics question. I want to be able calculate the energy over distance from a hypernova of a variable star like Eta Carinae. Understanding what energy levels ...
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How to calculate the light energy of a supernova?
I have been given a distance, an average flux, and a time period. How do I find the light energy emitted over that time period?
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1answer
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Could pure iron from a star make it to Earth?
Since iron is a stars waste could a star that goes Super nova eject pure iron to travel across the galaxy?
https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/35101/99-99-pure-iron-meteorite
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1answer
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What happens if a black hole is produced inside another black hole?
Similar question here.
The question I linked got me thinking.
It is known that a black hole doesn't let anything escape its event horizon, not even light. Thus, naturally, anything that passes the ...
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1answer
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What would happen if a star went supernova inside a supermassive black hole? [closed]
A black hole swallows a star.
The star remains intact.
Then goes supernova.
What would happen to the star?
Could we detect this event?
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Scientifically important discoveries with the help of amateurs
I am looking for examples where amateur astronomers in these days contributed sigificantly to important scientifically discoveries.
I am aware of one example: Victor Buso from Argentina was lucky ...
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1answer
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Can radioactive decay rates be confirmed by looking at supernova?
Radiometric dating relies on accurate knowledge of the half-lives of radioactive elements. Skeptics have argued that since many elements' half-lives are too long for anyone to have observed them, we ...
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Are we really star-stuff from the interior of collapsing stars?
Carl Sagan has said several times that we are "star-stuff".
One instance can be found in Good Reads' Carl Sagan > Quotes > Quotable Quote:
The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the ...
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Is it possible to predict a supernova with years or decades of advanced notice?
I know star phenomena like solar flares can (at some degree) be predicted:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5371481/Scientists-predict-solar-flares.html
Question: Is there any ...
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What would happen if someone had a telescope and watched Betelgeuse when it goes supernova?
Would that person go blind?
Neutrino detectors and the abundance of Neutrinos would detect the upcoming visible show about 3 hours before any visible signs, so there would be time to point certain ...
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1answer
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Comprehensible full manual for bolometric light curve reconstruction
Could anyone point me to some manual or tutorial, possibly step-by-step one, on reconstruction of (quasi-) bolometric light curve using UBVRI-photometry data?
Both links and names are fine for me.
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Could two stars collide without a resultant explosion?
Are there any scenarios in which two stars could collide, and simply fuse without triggering a supernova. Maybe a mid-sized star slowly spiraling in together with a smaller star? It seems like any ...
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1answer
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Could population III stars develop directly into population I stars?
Hundreds of millions of years after the Big Bang, the very first stars began to form consisting of mostly hydrogen, a bit of helium, and maybe some lithium. These stars lacked any "metals" (elements ...
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2answers
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How much iron does a star fuse before going supernova? [duplicate]
I understand stars fuse atoms into heavier and heavier elements. When the star starts to fuse iron, the amount of energy released is less than the amount of energy it to takes to fuse the atoms. This ...
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1answer
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Finding the SN explosion time by t-square fitting
In a couple of papers I've read that it's usual practice to fit early rise of supernova luminosity curve by $t^2$. Let me describe how I see it:
I take the early fast rising part of luminosity curve ...
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1answer
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Normalizing the supernova spectrum by photometry
I have a SN spectrum here (already reduced) that seems to have some artifacts. Professor tells me that I may have to normalize it using photometry.
As far as I understand, I just have to multiply it ...
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1answer
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Searches for dipole form of anisotropies (on luminosity distances) in the universe with type Ia supernovae
There are many articles like this one Testing the isotropy of the Universe by using the JLA compilation of type-Ia supernovae (PDF, arxiv.org) trying to search for a dipole effect in cosmology with ...
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2answers
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What is a type la supernova? [closed]
I’ve heard about them and know that they are used as standard candles, but what exactly are they? What makes them differ from other supernovae? Also, are they only special because of their use as ...
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1answer
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What does the word “shock cooling” mean in supernova physics?
I cannot understand the meaning of "shock cooling" which occurred in supernova.
And I saw the sentence like "Early photometry and spectroscopy reveal evidence of shock cooling of an extended helium-...
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1answer
203 views
Why is there a Phillips relation?
I want to know the explanation of Phillips relation, the relation seen in type Ia supernovae(SN Ia with broader light curve is brighter). More Ni-56 implies a larger luminosity at peak but what about ...
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3answers
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Why type Ia supernova reaches its peak absolute magnitude(~ -19.3mag) at around 15-20 days after the explosion?
I'm not sure why type Ia supernova reaches its peak magnitude 15-20 days after the explosion. Is this luminosity generated only by the radioactive decay of nickel-56 to cobalt-56?(considering a half-...
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2answers
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Could an astronomical process create elements in the islands of stability?
I was reading about heavy elements recently, and I took note of the theorized islands of stability, and how some the elements involved are considerably heavier than anything we've been able to ...
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Is the acceleration of the expansion of the universe a direct observation or an interpretation?
Is the acceleration of expansion we observe with supernovae direct or is this an interpretation according $\Lambda$CDM model ?
I mean what we observe is luminosity distance versus redshift, so to see ...
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What happens when a star gets hit by a supernova?
This may sound like a strange question, but say that two stars are relatively next to one another in a binary star system, what would happen to one of the stars if the other went supernova? Would it ...
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1answer
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Star - Black Hole binary. Star core Collapses. Does the black hole immediately grow from neutrinos?
I was reading on how Type II Supernovae release as much as 99% of their energy as neutrinos. So I was thinking: suppose there was a large star and black hole binary system, but the two were not close ...
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1answer
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Secondary maximum in SNIa lightcurves for near infrared
Type Ia supernovae (SNIa) are thermonuclear supernovae that generates a lot of Nickel 56 which emits photons while disintegrating.
How is the secondary maximum in lightcurves for reddish bands (see ...
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2answers
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Is there a name for the star/supernova hypothesized to have been a precursor to the Solar System?
I found an article suggesting a supernova injected debris which helped nudge the formation of the Solar System 4.5 billion years ago.
I couldn't find a name for this hypothetical star/supernova after ...
